Ethiopia jails nine journalists, renews press crackdown

Nairobi, April 28,
2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Ethiopian
government's arrests of nine journalists in one of the worst crackdowns against
free expression in the country.

"With the latest arrests, Ethiopian authorities are turning the peaceful exercise of free expression into a crime," said CPJ East Africa Representative Tom Rhodes.

On Sunday, a public prosecutor in the capital, Addis Ababa, accused the detainees--editor Asmamaw Hailegeorgis, freelancers Tesfalem Waldyes and Edom Kassaye, and bloggers Abel Wabella, Atnaf Berhane, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnail Feleke, Zelalem Kibret, and Befekadu Hailu--of working with foreign human rights organizations and using social media to create instability in the country, according to news reports and local journalists. Tesfalem, Asmamaw, and Zelalem will have their next court hearing on May 7, while the rest will appear in court on May 8, the same sources said. The journalists have not been formally charged with a crime.

The bloggers are members
of an independent collectivecalled Zone 9, which publishes news and
commentary, according to news reports. Formed
in May 2012 in response to the evisceration of the independent press and the
narrowing of the space for free expression, the group's name is derived from Kality
Prison, the main jail where Ethiopia's political prisoners, including several
journalists, are held, reports said. With the motto "We Blog Because We Care,"
the group has voiced concerns over domestic issues, including political
repression and social injustice. The Zone 9 blogs were frequently blocked
inside Ethiopia, but gained a following with Ethiopians in the diaspora, according
to local reports.

The arrests follow an
April 23 announcement on Facebook by the bloggers in which they said they would
resume publishing after seven months of inactivity. They had suspended publishing
after being harassed by security agents, according to the blog. The day before their arrest,
security agents allegedly ordered Natnail to hand over contact details of all
Zone 9 members, a request he refused, local journalists told CPJ.

Local journalists
said the other detainees--Asmamaw, a senior editor of the private Amharic weekly news magazine Addis Guday, and
freelancers Tesfalem and Edom--may have been arrested on suspicion of being affiliated
with the Zone 9 journalists. Edom had
been approached on several occasions and asked about her relationship to the other
Zone 9 journalists and the support they received from outside organizations,
the same sources said.

"These are not
journalists. Their arrest has nothing to do with journalism, but with serious
criminal activities," Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Hailemariam
Desalegn, told
Reuters. "We don't crack down on journalism or freedom of speech. But if
someone tries to use his or her profession to engage in criminal activities,
then there is a distinction there."

"We call on Ethiopian authorities to halt their slide into
paranoia and authoritarianism, and instead to allow critical commentary and
public debate to thrive," said CPJ's Rhodes. "These nine journalists should be
released immediately."

The journalists, who
were arrested in multiple raids
on Friday and Saturday, have been denied access to their family and lawyers and
are being held at the Maekelawi federal detention center, according to local
journalists. According to a report
by Human Rights Watch, interrogators at Maekelawi routinely use torture to
extract false confessions from detainees. The Ethiopian government denies the
allegations.